Next story:

Gray man gives ship model to Portland Coast Guard office

PORTLAND, Maine — The U.S. Coast Guard office in Portland is going to be adding to its artifact collection thanks to a Maine man who is donating a ship model built by his grandfather.

A wooden model of the Coast Guard Cutter Barataria will be donated by Bill Mancini of Gray, a former Coast Guard radioman and grandson of the model maker, the late Coast Guard Master Chief William Mitchell.

The Barataria was a 311-foot seaplane tender commissioned by the Navy during World War II and transferred to the Coast Guard in 1949.

The cutter was based in Portland from 1949 to 1968. It was used for law enforcement and search and rescue in the North Atlantic.

After it left Maine, the Barataria was sent to Vietnam. It was decommissioned in 1969.